“An Extraordinary Journey”: Law School Orientation 2016
At 8:30 a.m. on Aug. 30, the members of the J.D. class of 2019 convened in Mondale Hall for the start of their University of Minnesota Law School orientation. The next three days would be packed with welcomes, introductions, and briefings, intermixed with legal writing sessions, professorial insights, a mock criminal law class, meetings with career counselors, working lunches, an ice cream social, a Law Council social, and the ever-popular Great Law School Scavenger Hunt.
The class of 2019 is drawn from 31 U.S. states and 4 foreign countries. Its members speak more than a dozen languages and hold undergraduate degrees from 105 U.S. and international institutions (several of them were student body presidents of those institutions). Class members have served in the military, in VISTA, and in Teach for America; have interned for governors, the FBI, and the White House; and have worked in such disparate jobs as chemist, financial analyst, EMT, and sheep farmer.
In his welcoming remarks, Dean Garry W. Jenkins, who assumed his post over the summer, quipped to the students that he felt as if he were a fellow 1L. “This year is special,” he said, “because like all of you, I’m also new to this law school. We all decided to join Minnesota Law for the same reason: it is one of the absolute finest places in the world to study law and legal institutions. You are about to embark on an extraordinary intellectual and personal journey that will challenge you and change you… and you will find that you have chosen a great place to do so.”
Assistant Dean of Students Erin Keyes took a few moments during her orientation speech to speak about a particular alumnus—one who graduated 60 years ago, and for whom the building that houses the Law School is named. “Vice President Walter Mondale,” she said, “exemplifies a strong tradition of passionate citizen lawyering that is a hallmark of the University of Minnesota Law School, and that you are now part of. The idea of citizenship is key here. You are entering into the first step of not just a job at the end of three years but a life in the law”—a life of citizenship, connectedness, and service, Keyes said, for which there is no better exemplar than Walter Mondale (’56).
LL.M. students
The 2016-17 LL.M. students arrived and began their orientation in early August with an intensive three-week Introduction to American Law course.
This year’s LL.M. enrollment totals 61 students—35 women, 26 men. They come from 20 different countries, with the largest contingent (22 students) from China. LL.M. students have each completed a law degree in their home country and come to the Law School to further their legal education and broaden their experience.
The backgrounds of this year’s class members include government service, energy, accounting, aviation, teaching, the humanities, physics, law enforcement, medical technology, and environmental work. One student opened a pizzeria in China. Their legal interests range from judicial reform to sustainable energy, from human rights to finance law, from anti-corruption to administrative law, and from criminal law to intellectual property.
Master of Science in Patent Law students
The Law School’s Master of Science in Patent Law program begins its third year with a class of 10 students, two of them from the LL.M. program. MSPL candidates start their academic year with a two-week course introducing them to the American legal system and the law school environment. Their subsequent coursework will focus on patent law, patent prosecution, patent portfolio management, and persuasive writing.
